New Jersey REIT Buys Amazon-Leased Asset

6801 S. Air Depot Blvd. Image courtesy of Four Springs Capital Trust

Four Springs Capital Trust acquired a 312,000-square-foot industrial property in Oklahoma City from Crown Enterprises. The property is used by Amazon under a long-term lease as a last-mile distribution facility. The asset was one of eight industrial properties FSCT recently acquired or has under contract to buy for a total of $183 million.

READ ALSO: Optimizing Urban Industrial Projects for Success

FSCT, a private REIT based in Lake Como, N.J., that owns and operates industrial, medical and service-oriented net-leased properties, said the eight acquisitions comprise five build-to-suit opportunities and three sale-leaseback and existing assets.

Eric Paul, FSCT president, said Amazon had signed a 10-year lease with the previous owner that began in September for the 22.7-acre property at 6801 S. Air Depot Blvd. in Oklahoma City. The asset was built in 2001 and Crown Enterprises, a family-owned commercial real estate and development firm from metro Detroit, is listed as the owner since 2001, according to CommercialEdge.

Amazon has at least five industrial locations in Oklahoma City, including a 300,000-square-foot sorting center at 1414 Council Road and a 2.6 million-square-foot fulfillment center at 9201 S. Portland Ave., according to The Oklahoman newspaper. The newspaper noted Amazon is building a 1.1 million-square-foot expansion to the fulfillment center at 8991 S. Portland Ave.

William Dioguardi, CEO of Four Springs Capital Trust, said in a prepared statement the Oklahoma City site is an institutional-quality property in a great market that is leased on a long-term basis to a leading e-commerce tenant.

Robby Rieke, managing director of the industrial advisory group at Cushman & Wakefield, which brokered the transaction, said in prepared remarks well-located industrial properties with strong tenants like Amazon remain in strong demand.

Four Springs Activity

Dioguardi said last-mile logistics trends have further increased demand for industrial real estate as companies seek to provide same-day or next-day delivery to customers. Those demands have increased over the past year due to the effects of COVID-19 on consumer behavior, he said. The Amazon site is one of two last-mile distribution facilities FSCT has acquired or plans to buy as part of the $183 million group of purchases. The other six properties include cold storage/food distribution, light manufacturing and bulk distribution properties in strong target markets leased to creditworthy tenants. Dioguardi stated the eight properties underscore the REIT’s continued diversified investment strategy for its portfolio.

As of Dec. 31, 2020, FSCT owned 101 properties with 3.7 million square feet spanning 28 states. The REIT’s portfolio was fully occupied, and its top 10 tenants were Amazon, BioLife Plasma Services, Caliber Collision, Zips Car Wash, The University of Iowa, GPM Investments LLC, Academy Sports & Outdoors, Horizon Healthcare, CVS Caremark and Dollar General.

Indiana deal

Earlier this month, FSCT acquired a 200,000-square-foot warehouse and outdoor storage facility occupied by GAF Materials Corp. in Michigan City, Ind., from Mohr Capital. Gary Horn, chief development officer for Dallas-based Mohr Capital, described the asset as a single-tenant, net-leased property with a mission-critical operation located on a site that had 23 acres of concrete storage capacity. Horn said in prepared remarks the real estate investment firm had received an unsolicited offer from FSCT for the property at 130 Tri Quad Drive. Mohr Capital had built the ground-up development on the 45-acre site in nine months and delivered the completed facility to GAF in November 2020. Horn represented Mohr Capital in the transaction and Dioguardi represented FSCT.